Sem
1863–1934 · French caricaturist of the Belle Époque
Georges Goursat, known as Sem (Périgueux, 1863 – 1934), was a French caricaturist who became famous during the Belle Époque. Although he worked mainly as a caricaturist rather than as a painter, his work captures the fashionable life and society of Paris between 1900 and the First World War.
Born into an upper-middle-class family in Périgueux, he enjoyed a carefree youth thanks to the fortune inherited from his father. In 1888 he self-published his first albums of caricatures and settled in Bordeaux from 1890 to 1898, where he began publishing in the press. After a period in Marseille, he moved to Paris in 1900, drawn to high society and horse racing.
His album Le Turf, published in 1900, portrayed many figures of Parisian society and made him famous almost overnight. His simple and precise line turned these caricatures into a satirical record of the period's elite. During the First World War, although he was not drafted, he worked as a war correspondent for Le Journal and published War Sketches in a style quite different from his earlier work. After the war he returned to social caricature, with works such as Le Grand Monde à l'envers.
His legacy lies in the picture he left of Parisian society in his time. Hit hard by the economic crisis of 1929, he died in 1934.